When the weather is fine …

Posted on October 2, 2011

What is one to do with an Indian Summer? If you live in a country unaccustomed to pleasant weather so late in the season (entering, as we did this week, Autumn) evidently, lose your shit. England is flocking to its beaches, pale skin proffered to a sun that has usually, by now, well and truly disappeared, bound for the Southern Hemisphere’s impending summer.

Here in Münster, anxious to absorb as much sunshine as possible and with an increasing sense that my time here in this incredibly pleasant part of the world is coming to a close, I have been out and about, revelling in the feel of thongs on my feet and the sun on my face. I have even taken to completing the stereotype by getting a Boost Juice, a branch of which opened here just before summer. And encouraging all around me to do the same. Everyone should experience a nice cold Strawberry Squeeze every once in a while.

Together with Silke, who I have joined on almost daily rambles around the promenade, I have enjoyed a couple of establishments previously unbeknownst to me (despite my best efforts to become very well acquainted with a great deal of Münster’s wining and dining scene). The inhabitants of his affluent city spend a lot of time eating out, no matter the day of the week, no matter the weather. Consequently, Münster is riddled with restaurants and cafes, some delicious, some completely banal.

We have enjoyed wine and beer at the relaxed, nearby Pane e Piú and a daily special in the sun at the very trendy Asian restaurant/cafe Royals & Rice which looks directly onto the lovely Überwasserkirche. There has been a Saturday spent lolling in one of Münster’s numerous parks (a change from my usual sunny day haunt, the Aasee) and, perhaps most enjoyably of all, there was a Friday evening with Radlers in hand, spent barefoot, swinging in the park. We broke all the rules that night.